Trooper G Baker, Bedfordshire Yeomanry

At last I am writing to you. I hope it finds you well, as it leaves me and all my pals. We are having some grand weather, but very hot for our job. We are trench digging. We came up a week last Friday by motor bus, but the roads are very bad, and if you ride on top you have to hold on tight. Our home is a wood about a mile from the firing line, so we have a few German shells over. We got one of our men wounded last Wednesday, and on Thursday night we had just had our tea when they started shelling our wood. They kept on for nearly an hour. Four men and two officers were wounded, but none of the Beds. We have a battery of heavy RGA guns all round us, and while I am writing they are sending them over. May they find a good home! We get used to the guns. We get very little sleep when they start a bombardment. We are quite happy, but will be very pleased to see Old England again. We have been out here three months, and we have seen some sights. One village we came by was just a heap of ruins, and by the furniture which was left people had to leave in a great hurry. What would people think to see their homes ruined? My regards to all I know.